Superman #13Review

The best thing I can say about Superman #13 is that new writer Scott Lobdell brings an undeniable new sense of light-heartedness to this issue, using fun captions to establish his settings and even giving Jimmy Olsen a fleeting moment in the sun of being a ladies man. Unfortunately, the title character feels all but absent from his own book, as we’re left with a Clark Kent that is hardly Clark Kent at all; more like Peter Parker jumping ship to DC and trying his hardest to fill Superman’s cape.

This issue serves as a prelude to the upcoming Super-crossover H’el on Earth as well as it features the much ballyhooed quitting of Clark from the Daily Planet. Clark’s exit is actually the only moment in this book where Clark feels like Clark – standing up for his ethics and good ol’ Kent morality – but most everything that surrounds the incident rings untrue. Clark is depicted as a down-on-his-luck guy with next to no confidence, struggling to make rent while fending off the advances of one woman only to sulk about another (despite, you know, actually smoochin’ with Wonder Woman recently). His internal monologue mopes while he takes to the sky to battle a monster that has some connection to H’el, though Lobdell fails to make the relevance clear.

Not to mention that the Renee Zellweger to Superman’s Tom Cruise (if we’re talking in Jerry Maguire terms here) that follows Clark’s exit from the planet is none other than self-serving entertainment editor Cat Grant. Considering the fact that Clark’s rant about the state of journalism specifically references the kind of work Cat does, it’s odd that she’s the one to play cheerleader for him. Lobdell constantly aims to scatter character moments throughout the issue, but most come off as overwrought or painfully inappropriate for the character at hand.

Oftentimes it feels as though he’s taking the Spider-Man template (square peg) and forcing it into Superman’s status quo (round hole). Adding to the disappointment is an awkward shift from first person narration via Superman’s thought balloons to third person narrative captions about three quarters of the way into the issue.

At least Kenneth Rocafort gets an opportunity to construct some epic action sequences, even if they feel arbitrary at best. Superman’s battle with the beast-that’s-somehow-relevant-to-H’el is impressive, as Rocafort pulls the camera way back to showcase the scale of the battle. The one splash page of the beast wrapped around Metropolis skyscrapers is fantastic, though the storytelling that follows – Superman gets thwacked by the creature’s tail across the pond to Ireland – is far less clear than it should be. Rocafort’s images thrive on movement, so while the action sequences look impressive, the more character-centric conversation pieces struggle, lessening the already thin impact of Clark’s Jerry Maguire speech.

Superman #13 feels like a bunch of random ideas that are thinly stitched together by Clark Kent’s desire to be a real boy. But wait – there’s a crossover story coming next month, so we’ll see if any of the threads that are actually interesting, like Clark’s exit from the Planet and the testing of his powers, will be continued in any meaningful way during the event. I came to Superman #13 with great hope of a reinvigorated Man of Steel, but it looks like I’ve still got a ways to wait.